Hellllloooo new ingredient! Fennel Pollen is here + ready to play! Unfamiliar with fennel pollen? We've got it all covered in this blog post- what it is, what it's like, where it comes from + more. With such a beautiful, delicate ingredient it is important to give it the spot light. Here we made a bright, springy salad that essentially dresses itself between bites with the blood oranges. It makes a great mid-day snack or an impressive appetizer ((especially with this AE Ceramics Oyster plate!)

In my opinion, salads are only as good as their dressing. Texture falls very close behind, so let's chat there first. Knowing that this is a balsamic base, I'm expecting a little sweetness to balance the sourness. To cater to this, I added maple syrup to the dressing and carried that flavor over to the toppings by way of SKORDO Sugar Hut Pepper. What loves Sugar Hut Pepper? Sweet Potatoes. What loves Sweet Potatoes? Brussel Sprouts. I played this game around the produce aisle until I felt ready to salad because I am not a salad girl and need to carry some excitement through the whole experience haha. However, this is a very adaptable salad and could absolutely be a quick way to elevate some leftovers. 

"A surprising juxtaposition of texture and flavor -- fresh, palate-cleansing cucumbers paired with an earthy sesame dressing, enlivened by a daring spicy oil." - Hetty McKinnon, To Asia, With Love

This simple salad is great to serve as a snack or as a side to a bowl of noodles. Smashing the cucumbers tenderizes them, while a sprinkling of salt delivers a lovely pickle-like quality. It was delicious!

This recipe is from the new cookbook Cook This Book, written by Molly Baz (of Bon Appetit's YouTube fame). With a massive chapter on Salads and Molly Baz's self-proclaimed love for Caesar salads, we had high expectations. The whole family loved it! We will definitely be making it again this summer. It was fresh, flavorful, and unique. Her recipe calls for peaches but we couldn't get our hands on them this early in the season in Maine so we substituted strawberries. 

We spent three weeks cooking dinner nearly every evening from the cookbook Ottolenghi Simple... read our cookbook review here. Here's one of our favorite recipes we made. A delicious way to incorporate the iconic Middle Eastern blend, Ras el Hanout, into fresh flavors. We look forward to making this for many cookouts this summer!